WinCredit v0.03
(c) Brian Stewart
February 2002


1. Introduction

1.1.  Increasingly, those who want to use the credit programs are
using versions of Windows which won't run DOS (or won't run it
easily) - eg Windows 98ME, NT, 2000 or XP.  This package is an
early attempt to get the Credit Programs Link running under these
versions of Windows, using Richard Russell's BBC BASIC for
Windows.

1.2.  There are no guarantees that this version will work in all
circumstances and I am unable to test it on other systems because
I am still using Windows 98.


2.  Installation

2.1.  The procedure for installing the revised package is as
follows:

2.1.1.  Download the DOS package you want to use.

2.1.2.  Download the WinCredit patch.

2.1.3.  Unzip the DOS package into the folder of your choice.  As
it's going to work as a Windows program, you could put it in a
folder called WinCredit in your 'C:\Program Files' folder, but
that's up to you.

2.1.4.  Unzip the WinCredit patch into the same folder.  You
should get a warning about overwriting the file !Link.bbc.
Accept it - ie carry out the overwrite.  In subsequent version,
other files may also be overwritten.

2.1.5.  It is recommended that you delete the following files, if
they are in the folder (see the technical notes below):

        !Distrib.bbc
        Notes.bbc
        Calcul.bbc
        Calend.bbc


2.1.6.  You can also delete these files as they won't be used in
the Windows version, but you can leave them:

        Run.exe
        Start.bat
        Start.ini
        Credit.Bat
        APR.ini
        Rebates.ini
        Distrib.doc


2.1.7.  For completeness you should also include a folder called
'Others' in your 'WinCredit' folder but, at present, it is
uncertain whether any or all 'Others' programs will run.

2.1.8.  Set up a shortcut on your Desktop or whatever to run the
file WinCredit.exe in your chosen folder (details on how to set
up shortcuts are given in your Windows help files).  The
information in the Technic.doc ASCII file which is part of the
DOS package is specific to setting up DOS shorcuts, but some of
it might be helpful.


2.2.  *** WARNING *** it is important that you do NOT attempt to
enable the mouse routines by installing a Mouse.ini file in your
'WinCredit' folder (see the technical notes below).

2.3.  You should now have a functioning version of the programs,
in as much as they can be used to carry out calculations.  If you
have a slow PC (which is, in effect, what I have) you might find
the display a little sluggish, but it does the job.

Uninstalling

2.4.  If you need to uninstall the programs for any reason you
can simply delete the content of the 'WinCredit' folder.  The
programs will not appear in your Add/Remove Programs list in the
Windows Control Panel.


3.  Technical Information

3.1.  This package is based on only a few days familiarity with
BBC BASIC for Windows in which I've fixed or repaired what
obviously didn't work.  I currently have no idea if printing
works (but you should be able to log output or grab the screen
with Alt-PrtSrc in the ususal way).

3.2.  It should be regarded as a very early release.  Please
email me using the usual contact address if you have any
problems:

        brian_stewart@lycosmail.com


3.3.  As you probably guessed from the installation procedure
above, WinCredit is using largely the same code as the old DOS
package - this is because BBC BASIC 4 (as used in BBC BASIC(86)
for DOS) is a subset of BBC BASIC 5 (as used in BBC BASIC for
Windows) - so, in theory it should work.  From v0.03 the
WinCredit package contains four files:


Wincredit.exe

3.3.1.  This is a short compiled BBC BASIC for Windows program
which simply sets the screen to 'MODE 16' (which seems to work
best) changes the title bar of the window, switches off the mouse
pointer, re-defines the BBC BASIC character set to be the same as
the old DOS set (so the screen doesn't look a mess) and then runs
(CHAINs) the revised version of !Link.bbc.


!Link.bbc

3.3.2.  This is just a cut down version of the old DOS menu
program.  The DOS programs contain some assemby code routines to
handle things like cursor switching and mouse polling which will
cause them to crash with a 'blue screen of death' (BSOD) when run
under Windows.  All these have been removed from !Link.bbc and a
compliant method of cursor switching included.  The facilities to
run certain overlay programs have also been removed.  Although
they can no longer be easily called by key combinations, you can
still invoke them using the F3 key from the Link menu.  Since
they also contain assembler routines which have yet to be
modified, you'll get a BSOD if you run them.  This is why it is
recommended that you should delete the programs listed in 2.1.5
above.

Link.ini

3.3.3.  This is a modified version which does not contain the
instructions to run the !Distrib.bbc program (another !Menu
program which has yet to be modified and so will also generate a
BSOD) or to create an Action.bat program when a menu item is
selected (which is unnecessary when the Windows verison is being
used but may prevent certain add-ons from functioning corrently).


ReadMe.txt

3.3.4.  This file.


3.4.  All the calculator programs also include assembler to
poll mouse movement.  Installing a Mouse.ini file (see
Technic.doc for more information) will also invokes these and
cause a BSOD.

3.5.  At present, I wouldn't try to do anything else too fancy
with the setup either.


4.  History

v0.03  -  A few more modifications, actually mainly there to allow
          me to run both the DOS and Windows versions without
          having two sets of calculator programs on my PC.  The
          code in !Link.bbc which runs Calcul.bbc, Calend.bbc and
          Notes.bbc has been removed, the mouse handler routines
          have been completely removed and Link.ini has been
          modified to stop calling !Distrib bbc or creating an
          Action.bat file.

v0.02  -  A few improvements.  The cursor now switches okay, the
          ERROR calls used to re-start the menu via Action.bat
          (which caused the program to quit when you did certain
          things like press Escape) have been replaced with RUN
          to restart the program directly, the title bar now
          shows the program title and the mouse cursor now
          disappears over the program window.

v0.01  -  The first attempt.


Currently, that is all.





Brian Stewart
February 2002